Mary Vander Dussen and Kathy Hayman sing a prayer to open the bicentenary celebration held in Belleville, Ont. Photo: Juliet deWal

The friends in Belleville, Ont., found their efforts confirmed many times over as they connected friends with the Person of Bahá’u’lláh.

For our community, the bicentenary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh opened up opportunities to reflect on what we have learned so far about connecting with new friends of the Faith. We had created bonds with people by working with like-minded organizations: volunteering with the Syrian refugee support group, the spiritual health services committee and the interfaith Quinte group. We became regulars at our local coffee shop, where we engaged others in meaningful conversations. Through these outlets we have regularly invited people to firesides, devotional gatherings and, more recently, a children’s class. Inviting these friends to come celebrate the life of Bahá’u’lláh with us was a natural next step.

Opportunities to teach the Faith increased during this potent time. While we were setting up for our bicentenary event, my husband, Steve, went outside. He ran into a woman we hadn’t seen for several years and she asked what we were doing. Steve provided a short explanation of the bicentenary and asked her to come see our preparations. They ended up having a two hour discussion about the Faith as Steve took her through each of the Bahá’í principles posters we had put up, speaking with her about each one. That evening she came back to celebrate with us. Since then she has come to two devotional gatherings and we recently showed her our pilgrimage photos.

The evening itself was filled with happiness. We watched the film Light to the World and participants talked about how much it touched their hearts. One friend, our volunteer photographer, borrowed the DVD and told us she’s watched it twice since the event. Afterwards, there was a devotional program with music. One of our friends brought his tabla drums and played alongside us while the words were shown on a screen so everyone could join in.

Our celebration brought so many friends together who all found different ways of recognizing the bounty of having Bahá’u’lláh in all of our lives. Right after the bicentenary, we hosted two devotional gatherings and a fireside. Every community member is now being encouraged to host their own devotional or fireside with the friends that they know.

We are very pleased with how well the event turned out and by the response of our friends. It was the biggest event that this community has ever planned and it was amazing to see the results of the unified effort put forth by the whole cluster. We definitely feel a new spiritual energy has been released.

The Association welcomes submissions from individuals and groups of all ages and disciplines, especially youth and first time presenters, who wish to contribute to the discourse of their respective field through the lens of Bahá’í concepts related to civilization building.

The Bahá’í Society for Persian Arts and Letters warmly invites friends and supporters of Persian arts and culture to an exceptional programme featuring distinguished speakers for this year’s annual conference. Click on the links below to open a PDF version of the invitation in English or Persian: 21st Annual Conference of the Bahá’í Society for […]

Dearly loved friends, It is with great joy that we are now able to announce the full programme for the upcoming deepening course on Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh which will be facilitated by Dr Vahíd Ra’fatí at the Centre for Bahá’í Studies in Acuto, Italy, from January 2nd to January 7th 2018. If you are planning […]

Townshend International School A Baha’i-Inspired Residential School in the Heart of Europe Has the following needs for the 2018/19 year: Dormitory Parents An energetic and team-orientated couple to oversee the daily operation and proper functioning of the Dormitory, in order to provide a healthy, loving, sound environment for residential students. Benefits include a fully self-contained […]

The Winter 2018 issue of Bahá’í Canada magazine will be devoted to cultural and artistic expressions in honour of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh, as well as reports on the activities that took place across the country.